CHAMBRE REGIONALE D'AGRICULTURE DES PAYS DE LA LOIRE

Their core work

The Chambre Régionale d'Agriculture des Pays de la Loire is a French public agricultural advisory body serving farmers and agri-food businesses in the Loire Valley region. They provide technical guidance, training, and innovation support to help farms adopt sustainable practices, improve productivity, and connect with value chains. In H2020 projects, they contribute real-world farming expertise and act as a bridge between research consortia and on-the-ground agricultural practitioners, often through living labs and demonstration activities.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 work (2017-2019) centered on traditional agricultural knowledge sharing — grassland management, crop diversification, and organic feed networks — all through third-party roles in thematic networks. From 2019 onward, their focus shifted markedly toward digital agriculture (IoT, blockchain, big data in CATTLECHAIN 4.0), circular economy approaches (biofertilizers from waste in RUSTICA), and co-creation methodologies for agri-food value chains (CO-FRESH). They also moved from exclusively third-party roles to becoming direct project participants with dedicated EU funding.

Moving from passive knowledge-sharing roles toward active participation in digital agriculture and circular economy demonstrations — expect them to seek projects combining on-farm data with sustainability metrics.

How they like to work

They predominantly join large consortia as a third party or participant, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as a regional advisory body that brings farmer networks and field-testing capacity rather than leading research agendas. With 144 unique partners across 27 countries, they plug into broad European networks easily. Their value to consortia is practical: they provide access to real farms, real farmers, and regional food systems for validation and demonstration activities.

Extensively connected across Europe with 144 unique consortium partners in 27 countries, reflecting participation in large multi-actor projects. Their network spans agricultural research institutes, universities, farmer organizations, and food industry actors across the EU.

What sets them apart

As a regional agricultural chamber, they offer something most research organizations cannot: direct, trusted access to thousands of working farms and agri-food businesses in western France's Loire Valley — one of Europe's major agricultural regions. They are not a research lab but a practitioner bridge, making them ideal for projects that need real-world demonstration sites, farmer engagement, and multi-actor co-creation. Their growing experience with digital tools and circular approaches adds a modern edge to this traditional advisory role.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CO-FRESH
  Largest funding (EUR 279,250) and broadest scope — co-creating sustainable fruit, vegetable, and protein crop value chains across Europe with strong co-creation methodology.
• CATTLECHAIN 4.0
  Represents their pivot toward digital agriculture, combining IoT, blockchain, and big data for livestock traceability — unusual tech stack for a traditional agricultural chamber.
• RUSTICA
  Most recent project (2021-2024), demonstrates circular biofertilizer production from fruit and vegetable waste, signaling their move into circular economy topics.